Saturday's letters

Each day I take to the road, I am amazed at the incompetent management of our traffic control devices. Has anyone in charge ever heard of blinking red and amber lights at intersections at off hours?

Go to McIntosh and Sawyer Loop roads on a Sunday morning and burn $3.75-a-gallon gas waiting with no one around. How about red left-hand turn signals with green straight ahead and no one coming in the opposite direction?

I guess the average driver just cannot be trusted to make observation of oncoming cars. Let's not even talk about synchronized lights on major arteries.

However, the worst is Honore Avenue at State Road 681. Why in the world would you specifically prohibit someone driving north on 681 from making a left on Honore?

I guess eliminating traffic on U.S. 41 and I-75 is not an issue for these "traffic managers."

Jon J. Auty

Sarasota

Need a regional airport

Following up on the recent "Need direct flights" letter: I also feel the Airport Authority should devote its effort to becoming a much better regional airport, and everybody I talk to feels the same!

We need to be able to board a plane in Sarasota and fly nonstop to Philadelphia, Baltimore or Newark. Let's make that happen!

Joyce DeMaria

Sarasota

Up all night with Bayflite

When the North Port City Commission approved by consent agenda a contract between the city and Bayflite, it did so without regard for the citizens living in the area.

Bayflite comes and goes all hours of the day and night. Last night, or rather this morning at 2:45 a.m., is a classic example. As of this writing, it's 4:30 a.m., and we've been awake since it went over our house at 2:45 this morning.

We who live in this area must unite to bring this to a stop! It grossly exceeds the city's ordinance on noise levels and creates an unsafe condition in our neighborhoods. Google "helicopter crashes" or "Eurocopter crashes" and see how many times these things have gone down with loss of lives.

This is a residential neighborhood, not an airport! Others who are fed up with a roaring machine over their house can send me an email at noheliport@gmail.com.

Jerry Palmer

North Port

Fix the North Trail now

Over the past five years, and after hundreds of emails, dozens of meetings and phone calls, requests for North Tamiami Trail improvements have been ignored. It's more than aesthetics and a desire to have an attractive, landscaped roadway. Improvements to the North Trail, including a slower speed, a median, traffic light, pedestrian crosswalks, etc., would be the start to an economic and social re-birth of the area.

The current speed limit was a calculation of the average speed of vehicles traveling the roadway years ago. Surely not scientific or reflective of the road's current environment, which demands a lower speed limit. "Wait for fatalities" or invest thousands in more traffic studies were the common responses to requests. The median and traffic-light locations were agreed to years ago, but it took nine months to confirm that fact just to have the issue ignored, again.

I urge local officials from both Sarasota and Manatee counties, the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Florida Department of Transportation not to wait for fatalities, and to start to take action on the North Trail improvements, which do not hinder "overlay" plans and "multimodal" concepts.

There are things that can take place now to make a difference. Along with the University of South Florida, the area is also home to New College, our international airport and residents who have suffered long enough with the crime and other conditions that the lack of attention has brought to the North Trail.

Hugo Mazzoli, former chair, Sarasota-Manatee

Scenic Highway Corridor

Management Entity

Private bus nightmare

During a Sarasota County meeting on April 16, I learned that the county might privatize the SCAT bus system. Privatization typically plays out like this:

• The new company will have no regard for the well-being of the poor, elderly and disabled passengers who depend on SCAT. Fares will increase as services decline. Affordable bus passes for low-income people will vanish.

• The working poor will suffer the most, especially those who take two or more buses to their jobs. What was once a 90-minute return trip could take hours if fewer buses are running.

• The new company will have no consideration for bus drivers, who now average $13.55 an hour. Private companies typically try to rehire employees fired by the county at a much lower rate. However, most of the current top-quality drivers will likely be replaced by less experienced people, and liability risks will inevitably rise.

Privatization would fuel yet another race to the bottom.

Carol Rutter

Sarasota

Saying 'no' isn't enough

In response to Tom Lyons' recent column about the homeless standing on median strips:

We need more shelters and social workers and a comprehensive plan to deal with the underlying causes, such as decent jobs for decent pay. Refusing beggars isn't equal to hate, but it is not equal to love, compassion or justice either.

While giving cash is not recommended, giving food and providing shelter is a biblical mandate. Making laws that throw them in jail is not only mean and vindictive, but it is turning our back on God's call to be the compassionate face of God in our world.The time for immediate action to serve the needy and empower the poor is now. We can do a lot better.

Bridget Mary Meehan

Sarasota

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